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Leading the way to tackling biofilms

These communities of bacteria attach to the wound bed or each other and are protected by a matrix. Their presence in chronic wounds are linked to delayed wound healing.

Biofilms provide a complex treatment challenge to wound care clinicians because they are tolerant to antimicrobial treatments and the host immune response.

At Smith & Nephew we are leading a pioneering initiative to provide education and practical solutions to this problem in chronic wounds. The Wound Biofilm Expert Panel was formed in late 2015 and it has developed consensus recommendations across the themes of understanding and diagnosing biofilms, and treatment of biofilms. This will provide a strong platform towards a paradigm shift in biofilm treatment of chronic wounds.

Prof Gregory Schultz, University of Florida and chair of the panel stated “…this document will have a tremendous impact helping both researchers and clinicians understand biofilms, how to treat them and how to convert chronic wounds to healing wounds.”

Cadexomer Iodine has long been demonstrated at the highest level of evidence to be an effective treatment in chronic wounds. However, more recent data has shown that IODOSORB™ and IODOFLEX™ products containing cadexomer micro bead technology also demonstrated superior activity against biofilms in the laboratory and also showed an impact on biofilms in diabetic foot ulcers.